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February 20 Craig Taborn - 1970

The Craft reissue of The Cry sounds excellent. I’ve got originals of Firebirds, Rumasuma and Buring Spirits. All records that really deserve a nice reissue.

Wow those look great Hutch. I wish you lots of pleasant listening hours with them. my wife never makes hose kind of suggestions….

Next up on my show list is Jamie Baum at Scullers on March 7th. She's bringing Jaleel with her, so I'll get to see him again shortly. The show I have on my calendar after the Baum gig is an unusual one - Randy Brecker and his wife Ada Rovati are playing at the microscopic Press Room in Portsmouth. The rhythm section are UNH faculty, and I've heard a couple of them over the years. Should be a fun night, if maybe a bit crowded. This club is general admission and likely without tables (standing room) for this show. When I saw Nels Cline there, it was packed to the gills. I was surprised the fire marshal didn't show up.

streaming it myself now... I like it much better than I expected, recording quality is not amazing in general but Art is captured really well... like: there are not many Charlie Parker bootlegs with this fidelity... and these days I am much more interested in early or middle Pepper than in late Pepper...

Just curious: What renders it "fake"??? (I know nothing about this album or band.) Excellent.

Thanks for this. i looked on Laurie's bandcamp page but not YouTube. I think I can safely pass on this one. I have a lot of Laurie's previous releases and I don't find myself pulling them off the shelf very much any more.

February 20 Darek „Oles“ Oleszkiewicz - 1963

Sinatra is getting a second Tone Poet treatment. https://store.bluenote.com/products/frank-sinatra-songs-for-swingin-lovers-lp-tone-poet-vinyl-series?utm_campaign=887562_2.20.26_Blue Note Records_February 2026 Newsletter_Full List_231870_US&utm_medium=email&utm_source=dotmailer&dm_i=4YWU,J0UI,A7JYU5,38VL5,1,0,0,0

I don't think so. Dyson was not playing with any nuance and I was close enough to not even hear what the mics were putting out of the speakers. He had a hi-hat, two crash & a sizzle cymbal and he crashed those two crash cymbals way too much,

Steve Masakowski Family Band and Friends, Two Worlds

Now spinning: Jimmie Rowles - Grandpaws (Choice, 1976) with Buster Williams and Billy Hart

Some discussion here as well:

a lot (or all) of the set is on youtube...

Isn't that the fault of the club sound man? I've seen Joe Dyson before and don't recall him being excessively loud.

My favorite Buster recordings as a leader or co-leader: **************************************************************** Pinnacle (Muse, 1975) Very much in the spirit of Herbie's Mwandishi band. In other words, stinkin' brilliant! Features Woody Shaw, Sonny Fortune, and Onaje Allan Gumbs. Sphere - Flight Path (Elektra Musician, 1983) with Charlie Rouse, Kenny Barron, and Ben Riley. Unlike the first album, this one features compositions by the band including several by Buster. Timeless All Stars - Timeless Heart (Timeless, 1983) with Harold Land, Curtis Fuller, Bobby Hutcherson, Cedar Walton, and Billy Higgins. Effortless beauty. 2 as One: Live at Umbria Jazz - with Kenny Barron (Red, 1987) Recently reissued in an expanded two-disc set. A great opportunity to hear Buster "up front," on equal footing with the piano. Lost in a Memory (TCB, 1999) with the late, great Geri Allen. Also features Stefon Harris and Lenny White. Houdini (Sirocco, 2001) trio setting with Geri Allen and Lenny White. Might be tough to find since Sirocco went belly-up. But it's well worth the effort. Griot Liberté (Highnote, 2004) with George Colligan, Stefon Harris, and Lenny White. Tremendous. Also available in SACD format that sort of thing floats your boat. Audacity (Smoke Sessions, 2018) with Buster's working band, which he calls Something More: George Colligan, Steve Wilson, and Lenny White.

Agreed. Haitink's Debussy set is outstanding.

Ts find Sumphony No.2,3 (Dorati, Detroit) & Violin Concert (Dutoit, Montreal)

He's also a Mellon Jazz Legacy Fellow. $100K will go a long way I presume.

I think I'd like to hear some samples before buying this one. The rhythm section is rather unknown outside Vancouver.

I was very disappointed with the show last night. Old man rant coming... it was TOO FUCKING LOUD. Drummer Joe Dyson was the biggest culprit. I should have known he was going to be loud when I saw that he had every drum mic'ed as well as two overhead mics over his kit. He had three times as many mics as the rest of the band combined. It made for a drum-centric sound which was not pleasurable at all. My wife hated it and she left with her left ear "shut down" for a few hours after. It was that loud. I anticipated it and closed my right ear when Dyson really started bashing the cymbals. Other than that, the music was pretty good. Shaw's style is different. Most songs had what sounded like free improv, but more controlled. I don't want to get into the "noodling" argument again, so I will say that there were long streams of sax and Ben Street's bass floating over Lawrence Fields' piano fills and behind Dyson's cymbal crashes. My wife has only recently started attending Jazz shows with me and she was adamant that I never buy tickets for her to see this band again and that she never wanted to see Dyson behind the drum kit.